You never know what Jesse Dayton may have his hands dirty with at any given moment. He could be playing guitar for Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings right before they pass away, or collaborating with Rob Zombie on some horror flick, or producing a record with Eddie Spaghetti. Last year he was touring around with the band ‘X’ filling in for Billy Zoom on guitar. He’s all over the place, which is cool in the respect that he allows his creative passion to take him wherever it calls. But for the country music fan, sometimes you’d wish he’d cut it out and just make another damn record.

Jesse Dayton has an unfair ability when it comes to writing country songs. It seems like he can do it as easy as falling out of bed, while it takes other folks weeks of struggling to come up with something half as good. Like Corb Lund, there’s most often a little dollop of humor interwoven into his verse, and he’s not afraid to make a little fun of how sentimental and self-referential country music songwriting can sometimes be. And just as Jesse Dayton shifts mediums for his music, so will he when it comes to style. A little bit of punk-inspired rockabilly and Southern blues is always at the heart of Jesse Dayton’s music.

All of these attributes and more can be found on his latest record, The Revealer, which if it accomplishes nothing else, reveals most all of the reasons so many famous folks want Jesse Dayton putting in time on their projects, but why Dayton should always make sure to reserve some time for his own. Dayton had plenty of time to accrue new material for this album—his last record was a Kinky Friedman tribute from 2012—and The Revealer doesn’t take any shifts off or leave room for any slouchers. It’s one serious and entertaining effort after another for 12 tracks in a project that reminds us why we miss him in the album release department, and reveals no rust when it comes to Dayton making himself the centerpiece of the music.

Take a country song like “Match Made In Heaven”—he delivers country songs that are so good it’s hard for him to sing them without putting his tongue in his cheek, which transitions smoothly into “I’m Home Gettin’ Hammered (While She’s Out Gettin’ Nailed)” first performed by Banjo & Sullivan, but written by Dayton. His George Jones tribute “Possum Ran Over My Grave” is just about perfect, and the way he’s able to put those Jones inflections on his voice makes it that much more spine shivering.

Where The Revealer really digs in is its old school alt-country or rockabilly material like the blistering “Take Out The Trash,” the funny (though a little wordy) “3 Pecker Goat,” or the good-gone-bad tatted up in flame decals “Holy Ghost Rock n’ Roller.” Then Dayton takes some time from being funny and frolicking to moving into more personal material like “Mrs. Victoria (Beautiful Thing),” which tackles the subject of race by portraying the way it really is for most Southerners, and how friendships and bonds stretch across the tracks more than is given credit for by the outside world.

The album turns even more serious at the end. Though “Never Started Livin'” may not hit on the mark exactly like it wants to, the final song “Big State Motel” reveals the deep Texas blues and soul that is also a serious part of the Jesse Dayton arsenal and can cut deep down to the bone when he wants to call on it, bolstered by the metallic tone of a resonator guitar.

You’re a bit surprised there isn’t a little more of the dazzling guitar work you would expect from a Jesse Dayton record, though perhaps the point on The Revealer is to put the songs more out front. It’s also a little hard to nail down what Dayon’s authentic voice is on this project, because he shape shifts into so many different characters by the end, though he does all these different styles so well.

Jesse Dayton, like many Austin-based musicians, is so well-revered locally and among his musical peers that it doesn’t really push them to ingratiate themselves to the outside world. There was a time when Dayton was one of the most promising musicians in the alt-country world. But he’s also one of these guys who doesn’t care to become some superstar; he just wants to be a part of some cool projects, whether that pushes his own brand into the spotlight or not. But as The Revealer proves, he’s got the chops to not have to play second fiddle to anybody, still. Hopefully it will be a gateway to new independent country devotees to go back and check out those earlier records, and spurn Dayton to find at least a little more time for his own music in between all those other pursuits he’s a part of.

21 Comments

Damn, when I’m in the Austin area in December, he’s in Milwaukee and Minneapolis. The day I leave for Houston, December 6, Cody Jinks is 20 miles away at Southgate House Revival, Newport, KY. I can’t seem to catch a break lately. Any Hill Country live music suggestions for 12/12 thru 12/15, anyone?

Luke Bell is in Austin I believe on the 7th….that’s close to the dates you mentioned at least. Jon Wolfe @ Wagners Backyard on the 11th, Flatland Cavalry on the 17th. All kinds of bands and shows at the little longhorn and other places around Austin

Listened to all the album clips, this sounds like a fun record from what I heard, thanks for reviewing it. I am a lifelong X (the band) fan, so I definitely like how he sounds. Billy Zoom is a great guitarist with a rockabilly influence and John Doe/ Exene Cervanka have done country records so this sounds like he’s picked up on those influences while playing with X. It would be great to see him and Dale Watson tour together, they seem like kindred spirits and it likely would be a heck of a show.

I’ve been anticipating this album ever since I saw him a couple of years ago at the Gator Festival in Anahuac, Texas, and he played “Daddy Was a Badass,” saying it would be on the new record coming out in April. It was significantly later than April, but worth the wait!

It always entertains me to no end when you post something about an independent artist and it gets almost not comments, but an article about some mainstream artist gets 100 plus. Then, people complain and say things like “why do you write these articles about [mainstream country artist]”. People clearly care about that stuff, or are at least more opinionated about it.

It wasn’t always like this. I was just reading Trig’s review of Bob Wayne’s “T’ill the Wheels Fall Off’ from 2012 (because someone randomly commented on it). That article has 100 comments! 2 years later, a Bob Wayne album review garnished an anemic 14 comments.
Over the last few years due to necessity, Trig has (and I’m not stating this in a negative tone) appealed to the mainstream (while keeping most of us hardcore fans happy). But, some of those readers must have moved on – or died of heroine overdoses.
I encourage you to go back and read the some of the articles from the good ole days. You’d learn a lot. I lived through them and still do.

1) Comments don’t always denote interest or traffic to any particular article, though they can. I always like to see more comments than less because I’m interested in reading what others think, even if they disagree with me.

2) Saving Country Music has always covered mainstream country, even from the very beginning. The idea that I’ve moved more in that direction in recent months or years is the result of more interest going towards those articles, and less going to the independent/underground stuff. I post independent/underground stuff all the time that goes totally under the radar because some people’s filter for the internet is Facebook, and because nobody clicks or shares these posts, they don’t show up in their feed. But my rants against Florida Georgia Line do, and all of a sudden that what everyone thinks I do 24/7. I am covering more mainstream music than I used to in 2009, but that’s because I’m covering more of everything. By the end of the year I will have reviewed upwards of 60 or 70 independent album, not including news stories and other features.

3) So many artists and bands in recent years have gone mainstream themselves. Where Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, and Chris Stapleton used to be niche indie artists, now they’re selling out theaters.

4) Saving Country Music used to be one of the gathering points for the underground. That “scene” has nearly evaporated, and many of the folks that are left only stick around Facebook. Also because of the bullshit with Shooter Jennings, it’s not “cool” to comment here for some of them, though many of them still read. It sucks that the community that was once the underground has been scattered to the seven winds, but I still do my best to cover the best music from those artists.

Trigger,
let me clarify slightly. When I say people complain, I mean in the comments sections there is a very dismissive group of people who automatically write off anything they don’t deem authentic, or real country, or whatever they think that is. This is just a personal observation from reading the comments section on this page for a little over 5 years now. It comes up a lot when you cover a mainstream artists album, and conclude something along the lines that it’s better than most of their contemporaries. Almost immediately people fire back that it still isn’t country blah blah blah why are you reviewing this blah blah blah. The most egregious version of this, I think was the reactionary comments on your recent Yelawolf review (I love that song btw). I understand that that song is not country music per se, and there is a group of people that are never going to accept it. But it seems to me many don’t even listen, and have a confirmation bias. Even if they do listen, it’s for about 15 seconds and then they go, welp I don’t get it, not my thing. But I don’t think you can judge a song with one listen, and you certainly have to pay attention Yelawolf, and think about it before you can make a decision about the quality. As an aside, to deny Yelawolf as at the very least a country music influenced artist is disingenuous (not directed at you, but more or less the commenters). Devil in my veins is about as country as it gets, and Shadows is backed by a steel guitar driven beat that sounds likes its straight out of the swamp. I digress

There is definitely that contingent in the comments section, but I try to not let it affect my coverage. I purposely try to challenge people’s reality tunnels by trying to find the best music, whether it’s from the mainstream or the underground, and presenting them in one forum. Screw scenes. They put a limitation on your musical experience. It also happens to be that in the last couple of years, we’ve seen significant improvement in the mainstream. And time I see what I think is improvement in mainstream music, I’m going to highlight it, because I want to see more of it.

I dont think he is covering more mainstream. Ive noticed he has covered less of the punk-rock-country interlopers and focused more on actual country music which I very much appreciate. Trig has always been about good country music and im sure he has learned and discovered a lot since he started this blog. If real country starts to slowly enter the mainstream again then Trig is absolutely entitled to and right to cover it here. This is about saving country music, period. Not saving underground country or punk country or outlaw country or mainstream country. Just country.

I am happy he does not buy into the mainstream-underground polarization that the hipsters love. Whether it has been performers, songwriters or musicians up until the last decade or two country music institutions/mainstream have really supported the best of the best that country has to offer in some capacity (though not without their missteps) so that polarization between underground and mainstream never really made sense as far as country music goes.

Ive been following this blog for god knows how long and still come back regularly. This is the only site that has consistently produced quality articles and reviews in a fair and balanced way. Its amazing it is all one man. It is really cool to see Trig develop his style and quality over time. He rivals any big shot critic. I remember his earliest review of Rachel Brooke where Trig comes across as a salivating dog or an overly excited 14 year old (no offense! haha) so to recall that and then see the level of professionalism Trig has now (and has had for awhile) has been really cool to see. He has consistently taken the high road when it comes to more dramatic matters too. Many have come and gone but I expect to (God be willing) be coming back to this site or at least reading Trig’s articles and reviews somewhere for a long time! Trig has the integrity so severely lacking in media today.

Saw Jesse Dayton open for The Supersuckers in Washington State a month or so ago. I was completely blown away by the showmanship, the clever lyrics, and the stellar guitar work. It doesn’t translate 100% to the album… so even if you like, but don’t love, the album, try and catch this guy live. He definitely earned more than a few fans that night.